Re: git push [rejected] question

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Feb 19, 2008, 15:08 UTC
Message-ID: <20080219150826.GA24499@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <76718490802190509k20225092o66853916f48e08b1@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 08:09:36AM -0500, Jay Soffian wrote:

Show 13 quoted lines

> git-push(1) is a bit confusing I think:
> 
>   "Note: If no explicit refspec is found, (that is neither on the command line
>   nor in any Push line of the corresponding remotes file---see below), then all
>   the heads that exist both on the local side and on the remote side are
>   updated."
> 
> is clear enough, but then:
> 
>   "--all Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all refs under
>   $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/ be pushed."
> 
> So what is '--all' needed for then?

In the first case we push "matching" refs: any head which already exists on both sides. In the second case, we push all heads which exist on the sending send, whether or not a matching ref already exists on the remote side.

I think the first statement could be made to emphasize the matching aspect a little more, since a quick read makes it seem like it's pushing the union of the two sets, not the intersection of the two sets.

> It seems like the default should be to push just the current branch
> ... this would correspond to what a user of git pull expects (even
> though the converse of git-push is really git-fetch, for a new user,
> that might not be entirely clear).

I agree with you, but others do not; this has come up several times in the past (there was some discussion a week or two ago in the thread "Minor annoyance with git push").

-Peff